


Affinity

by solidground



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Canon compliant-ish, F/M, Force Bond (Star Wars), I have no idea, Is Kylo Ren Good?, Post-Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-22
Updated: 2018-04-22
Packaged: 2019-04-26 08:22:42
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,203
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14398116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solidground/pseuds/solidground
Summary: A slow burn fic set post-Last Jedi--Rey and Kylo Ren deal with the fallout of Crait and the Bond they can't seem to break...---Three days in, and Rey's found herself even avoiding the cockpit with Chewie and the little chirping porg that won't leave his side. There's just so much noise, everywhere she goes. And she can't escape any of it for long. She's suddenly so important, a part of every meeting and decision, meaningful or not.But just when Rey starts to yearn for the stillness, the anonymity of Jakku, she remembers what would happen if she were left alone again. Left with just her thoughts, her feelings, and what they have become.





	Affinity

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome to my second attempt at a Reylo fic! Hopefully this one will stick around. :)
> 
> If you give it a shot, let me know what you think! Any comments and suggestions will be very welcome!

The _Millenium Falcon_ wasn't designed to hold so many people. Even as small as the Resistance was now, _\--Twelve… Can this really be all that's left?--_ there just weren't enough bunks or rooms to make this flight comfortable. The limited availability of the ‘fresher in particular was starting to wear on everyone on board. 

Three days in, and Rey's found herself even avoiding the cockpit with Chewie and the little chirping porg that won't leave his side. There's just so much noise, everywhere she goes. And she can't escape any of it for long. She's suddenly so important, a part of every meeting and decision, meaningful or not. 

But just when Rey starts to yearn for the stillness, the anonymity of Jakku, she remembers what would happen if she were left alone again. Left with just her thoughts, her feelings, and what they have become. 

Sleeping in a crowded cockpit was far better than that. 

Besides, there was something… nice about all of the chaos. It had purpose, meaning. Somewhere, deeper than the sadness that thickened the air, there was a renewed hope. And Rey was part of that. She could feel the mood lift when she enters a room, feel their _\--misplaced , I come from nothing--_ faith and awe in a Jedi... _\--not a Jedi, never a Jedi again, two lessons were not enough..._

“You're lost again, dear.” General Organa murmurs gently, bringing her attention back to the meeting. 

_Lost… lost, Ben was lost..._

“--our last report from Endor wasn't favorable. Too many First Order scouts.” 

“That was three standard months ago, Commander, there's no way they're still buzzing around that place,” Finn argued. “It's not worth it to the Order to keep a constant presence there. We'd be better off going where we know they'll ignore for a while.”

Rey _was_ lost; the holo-map in front of her no longer made sense. “Where is Endor?” The words have barely slipped off her tongue when a thirteenth body arrives in the room. Rey squeezes her eyes shut. 

_No. I closed the door on you. You shouldn't be here._

“In the Outer Rim.” His voice shuts everything else out, and even if he's not really there, not really in the _Falcon_ , Rey still can't breathe. Not with him so close.

“You should be gone,” she whispers. “The bond should've broken when he died.” 

“Perhaps.” He was right behind her, voice sliding over her ear. _How does he move so fast?_ “But I'm more interested in why you want to know where Endor is. Is that where you're headed next? You and all, oh, what's left? Five? Six? Six friends left? That's not much to work with, not enough to _resist_ me.”

Maybe ignoring him would work, maybe if she just opened her eyes and stared straight ahead. General Organa held her hand now. The room was silent and _oh, fuck, they all know..._

It's hard to keep a secret on a too-crowded freighter.

“I'm willing to let them go, Rey, all of them. Let them live on Endor or D’Qar or whatever forsaken place they want.”

He steps in front of her and she's forced to see him, to look at him. Kylo Ren… Ben Solo… _Him_... 

Dark eyes capture hers and he reaches ever so slightly to her. So slowly she thinks she's imagined it, but no, his gloved hand is so near hers. She pulls away from the General’s hand, afraid he'll pull her in, too.

“Come with me, Rey. None of them will die, I swear it. Just…”

“No.”

A deep, rumbling groan escapes him and she knows that it hurts him to do this. It hurts to be near her, to feel her rejection, but she doesn't care. Or she doesn't want to care; she's not quite sure. 

“On Endor, then, Rey.” 

Just like that, he's gone and it's no longer Kylo Ren’s eyes boring into hers but Poe Dameron’s, lighter, softer, and wide with concern and curiosity. 

“Can he still hear you?” 

She shook her head. “He's gone. And Endor’s not safe. He… I messed up and he heard.”

The General, wearier with each passing day, waved her off. “It’s okay. Thila. We'll go to Thila.”

***

What bothered him most was his lack of control. He wanted to see her, hear her, speak with her, but he wanted to do it on his terms. Randomly popping in and out of her life was not acceptable--what use was it to find her sleeping? To interrupt her meals? 

And fuck the voice in his head, mocking and snarling at his every moment of weakness.

**_Skywalker always said you lacked discipline and, on that, we agree._ **

He used to think that voice was Snoke-- _maybe it is, can anybody really kill pure evil?_ \--whispering commands and harsh, but necessary, instruction in his ear, but now he’s not sure who it is that haunts him.

Other than her. 

He sits on a throne now, or at least something like it. 

With the _Supremacy_ gone, Hux had taken over the _Conqueror_ and rechristened it _Vanquisher_ in an alarmingly garish ceremony. He’d had it fitted with a blinding white throne room that Kylo begrudgingly liked for the way the brightness cowed his visitors. He appreciated the irony.

Gone were the Praetorian Guard and oversized holograms. Gone were the cryptic hints of immortality and unbounded power. Kylo Ren would not hide from the First Order in the shadows like Snoke; he wanted them to fear and respect him for exactly who he was--a man who’d risen above them all through sheer power and the Force. Shapeless fears could be transformed into something harmless; he wanted their nightmares to have a name.

Even Hux trembled slightly now, and Kylo could see the general’s memory of the Force crushing his windpipe playing over and over in his mind.

“You’ve come to admit failure again, Hux?” The datapad in Hux’s hands nearly slipped, but Kylo pulled it into his own hands with the Force. He read the first pages of the report in silence, reveling in the sound of Hux’s rapid breathing.

When they had been equals, rivals groveling before the Supreme Leader, Hux had been intolerable. But now Kylo could see why Snoke kept him around. Hux was obedient and excruciatingly efficient. Very little escaped his notice and he wrote informative-- _boring, but useful_ \--reports. 

It’s clear why Hux fears Kylo’s reaction to this particular report. If he hadn’t heard Rey’s slip earlier, it would have enraged him. The _Vanquisher_ already bore new burn marks; this report would have surely added a few more.

“Just three days and the _Falcon_ has already outflown the entire First Order?” Kylo scoffed. “That piece of shit is held together with tape and hardened bantha dung and it’s managed to completely disappear?”

“Most of our ships were tied up in salvaging the _Supremacy,_ Supreme Leader,” Hux explains. “The _Falcon_ was small enough to slip--”

“Don’t you fucking dare tell me you were _too busy_ to track down one measly ship, Hux,” he growled and Hux flinched. “Luckily for you, I have more effective sources of information than you. I want four Destroyers to accompany the _Vanquisher_ to Endor immediately.”


End file.
